This invention relates to a method of providing a private circuit in a telecommunications network which has at least two local switches, each local switch having a group of local switch lines and being associated with a group of access lines. The invention is also concerned with such a network which is arranged to provide a private circuit.
Related Art
In the usual method of providing a private circuit between first and second access lines, physical connections are made by engineers at appropriate exchange buildings so as to provide the private circuit. Where a failure occurs in the private circuit in the network, it is a usual requirement to restore the private circuit quickly. There is also sometimes a requirement to provide a private circuit quickly. This invention is concerned with the quick provision or restoration of a private circuit.
A known method of providing quick provision or restoration of a private circuit between a first access line associated with a first local switch and a second access line associated with a second local switch is as follows. At the first local switch, an engineer connects the first access line to a first local switch line. A second engineer then connects the second access line to a second local switch line at the second local switch. The two engineers then instruct network management personnel to provide a permanent switched circuit between the first and second local switch lines through appropriate switches in the network. This known method suffers from the disadvantage that it involves network management personnel so it tends to be laborious and time consuming.